On the last leg of her cruise Azura left Iceland and cruised for two days before reaching Lerwick in Shetland. The first leg of the cruise had been to Belfast and Stornoway followed by four days in Iceland.
Despite her ‘age’ this last part of the cruise had Azura’s maiden calls at Lerwick and Kirkwall. In the earlier parts of the cruise she had had maiden calls at at Belfast, Stornoway and Isafjordur in Iceland.
Day 10 Tuesday 28th June 2016 First day in transit to Lerwick, Shetland
Azura had sailed North after leaving Akureyri until we crossed the Arctic Circle at about 12:30am. The ship was then above the Arctic Circle until about 3:30am before crossing back South on its track to the Shetlands and past the Faroe Islands.
We woke to light rain and mist as we went to breakfast.
The officer of the watch in his early morning update explained some facts about the Arctic Circle. Here is the same information from Wikipedia about the Artic Circle. My surprise was that the Artic Circle is not fixed but ‘moves’ depending on the calculation of where there will be a 24 hour day without any night..
North of the Arctic Circle, the sun is above the horizon for twenty-four continuous hours at least once per year (and therefore visible at midnight) and below the horizon for twenty-four continuous hours at least once per year (and therefore not visible at noon); this is also true within the equivalent polar circle in the Southern Hemisphere, the Antarctic Circle.
The position of the Arctic Circle is not fixed; as of 19 July 2016, it runs 66°33’46.3? north of the Equator.[1] Its latitude depends on the Earth’s axial tilt, which fluctuates within a margin of 2° over a 40,000-year period, due to tidal forces resulting from the orbit of the Moon.[2] Consequently, the Arctic Circle is currently drifting northwards at a speed of about 15 m (49 ft) per year.
References:
1.”Obliquity of the Ecliptic (Eps Mean)”. Neoprogrammics.com. Retrieved 2014-05-13.
2. Berger, A.L. (1976). “Obliquity and Precession for the Last 5000000 Years”. Astronomy and Astrophysics 51: 127–135. Bibcode:1976A&A….51..127B.
We were still so far North that we didn’t have a sunrise and the sunset was scheduled for just before midnight.
Lunch was in one of the main restaurants, where I had Eggs Benedict followed by the luncheon grill. An excellent set of choices!
A couple of our table companions were from Germany and we enjoyed a conversation spanning football, Europe and why they preferred any cruise ship other than one of the German based cruise lines!
After lunch we entered into some fog and after 3 pm Azura was blowing its fog horn. All day I had watched sea birds around the ship as I looked out for any signs of whales or dolphins.
Later as the temperature began to rise, the skies began to clear so that in the early evening we had patches of blue.
At the cocktail party hosted by the Captain we learnt that this cruise was even more special as Azura was making five maiden calls to ports. This was unusual for a ship that was so relatively ‘old’.
After the cocktail party we went for dinner taking the last remnants of the generous drinks from the party. My main course was pork schnitzel with a salad as a starter.
We were still with the midnight sun and here is the view at 11-30 pm of the sea.
Day 11 Wednesday 29th June 2016 Second day in transit to Lerwick, Shetland
Sunrise was at at 4:22 am we were told as we sailed further South and ‘gained’ a night however short. Azura at 7 am was due North of the Faroe Islands and we had a light morning mist that soon went away.
After breakfast I went down to the Promenade deck to watch the birds flying alongside the ship.
We had lunch in the main dining room and I enjoyed a black pudding hash with egg followed by chicken murgh – both delicious.
In the early afternoon we were treated to the Azura staff talent show. This had members of the entertainment team along with members of staff from every department showing off their talents.
We then went for a three mile plus walk around the Promenade deck and now there were dozens of birds flying alongside the ship.
The birds stayed with us for the rest of the day. We did get ‘passed’ by another ship as the the day progressed. On closer inspection it was Holland America’s Amsterdam again.
It was time to re-stock our refrigerator with tonic water. A quick visit to the Planet Bar provided us with more bottles of Fever Tree tonic.
The sun was trying to break through the clouds and generally the temperature was beginning to rise the further South that the ship sailed in the afternoon. But by early evening the cloud and rain had returned along with a bitter wind.
Dinner was interesting as the steaks were swapped around on our table with the medium rare delivered to the well done and vice versa. This caused a slight hiatus until new steaks were delivered.
After dinner in the Manhattan we watched ‘Its a beautiful world’ perform a series of Take That number ones.
We had a sunset too just before midnight and then the sky went dark for a ‘proper’ night.
